Burundian Unity

This is probably the phrase I utter the most on a daily basis since I arrived in Burundi in August 2014, greetings notwithstanding, so I decided to get it out of the way. However, I love Burundi.

Burundi is my favorite country in east Africa, so far.

I’ve had the opportunity to travel quite a bit in and around Burundi and it almost feels like home here. Everything from the people, the climate the food and the landscape are great. This is why I am writing this post.

In the six months I have been around, I have been blessed to meet new people from different backgrounds, and in different locations across the country. My line of work requires me to travel to rural and urban areas within Burundi.

I have slowly come to the realization that in fact no matter where I am, no matter who I meet, there is a logical succession of inquiries directed to me in the aim of putting a finger on my origins. This is natural. Anyone who meets someone new will likely say: “Nice to meet you, where are you from”.

Origin is the number one identifier for individuals, and depending on whether you are dealing with a person from your country or not, the identifier becomes more and more specific. This, I believe is done to answer the subconscious question: “How similar is this person to me?” or yet, “How different is this person from me?” there is an inherent effort to establish a common ground for interaction.

In my situation, most people are surprised to find out I am not “Burundian” (I am mostly assumed to be a specific type of Burundian… we will get into that later).

I end up telling them I am from a country in West Africa…

95% of the time, (for some strange reason suggesting that people who look like me can only hail from Burundi; which, incidentally, occupies 0.9% of the African continent’s surface), they do not believe me.

I smile.

I smile because I know that this is the point where a game starts in which these four general questions are asked in a specific sequence:

-Why are you in Burundi?
(If it had not previously been covered, I tell them my line of work etc.)

-How come a person from your country looks like Burundians?(I usually answer with the same question from my point of view and enjoy their reaction :) )

-Are your parents from that country?
(I once pulled out my National I.D. card and showed it to them because that makes sense right?)

-Are there a lot of Rwandans in your country?
(At this point I just change the subject, or try to… depending on the interlocutor’s resolve.)

The more straightforward people don’t hesitate to ask me: “Are you sure you are not Tutsi?”

In the beginning, this question seemed rather innocent for me. I used to think it was an effort to establish a rapport so I can be more relatable, so our common ground could broaden. As I learned more and more about Burundian history, I progressively started noticing that most times, the people asking those questions, and insisted, were mostly from the ethnic group opposite than the one they suspected me of being part of. I started wondering:

Why this obsession with that specific social identifier?

I am an outsider, and I understand that there are things that I cannot grasp about social structure in Burundi, simply because I am not Burundian. So what I am going to say is in full conscience of my oblivion to specifics and of my hopefully objective opinion.

This needs to stop.

Pointing out differences in such a manner, anywhere in the world cannot be healthy for unity. If Burundi, truly is attempting to keep the past at bay and move forward from the horrible events it has witnessed, this behavior immediately needs to end.

The quest for a united nation will need to start with different groups working together to establish a foundation for a future that our children can grow up and prosper in without the threat of conflict looming over their fates.

The only thing that all humans have in common on this earth is their diversity. Let’s embrace that.

While asking that question in and of itself does not constitute a threat to peace between different groups in Burundi, it does suggest that a strong label exists and is systematically placed upon people belonging to different groups. The fact that there is a subconscious priority to categorize that label upon meeting a new person in my opinion, is dangerous. It underlines antagonization, and the pre-established opinion of a person based on their ethnic group, regardless of their character, or person.

We are all guilty of prejudice. It is the human defense mechanism for the idea of the “Other”. I am not saying we are wrong to point out differences. I am saying that we should focus on how we can use them to move forward without needing to be enemies.

A constructive effort to work as a unit to solve the problems that ALL Burundians face as a nation, can most likely aid the country to move forward.

So the question we need to ask ourselves is:
Will we let the past repeat itself by letting it define us, or will we use the painful lessons it has taught us to build a future devoid of conflict?

I think it is food for thought for any African anywhere today.

It sounds fluffy but seriously. Try it. Give it some thought. How does the way we think about ourselves negatively impact our society?

Happy Burundi Unity day!

Also, it’s my birthday. 🙂

Cheers!

Sincerely,

A Concerned World Citizen who loves Burundi

(Image source: iwacu-burundi.org)

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Amadeus currently lives and works in Burundi, in the development field

Thank you Anonymous. Each person has a role to play in the collective change of mindsets in our surroundings. Your voice counts too! Challenge your peers. We can influence the future. And thank you for the birthday wishes!

Amadeus, thanks for sharing such an interesting observation. Although it is preferable to put a stop to that categorization as soon as possible, we must allow time to heal the wounds of the past and a new generation to appreciate their differences as a strength rather than the basis of discrimination. Rather than sweep the ethnic identifiers under the rug to have it going on in secret with great risk of implosion, we just need to allow people to phase this out in a very incremental way. I agree that it needs to stop but it will take some time.

John, I agree with you. The next generation needs to succeed in pushing things forward. But this will highly depend on what we tell them about their history and how we teach them to avoid the same situations that have tainted the past. I just found a quote that illustrates this:
“It has been said that time heals all wounds. I don’t agree. The wounds remain. Time – the mind, protecting its sanity – covers them with some scar tissue and the pain lessens, but it is never gone.”
The scars will remain. And we need to remember how we got them, so we never have to again.

Years ago, I had to interview President Sedar Senghor for a Radio France International programme. I was to meet him at his home in Paris, 17th arrondissement. I arrived quite ahead of the fixed time and I was sitting in his living room when he came in. I got up in order to greet him with much respect and I introduced myself to him. I told him I was a journalist from Burundi but based in Paris.

And that was the end of our conversation concerning my ethnic origin. Was President Senghor trying to find a sort of common ground between him and I ? I really don’t know. But after my reply which he didn’t expect at all, he went on explaining me why Senegalese and people living in the sub-tropical area where Burundi is located have very dark skin completion.

I beg your pardon. I don’t remember the scintific reasons President Senghor gave me for that. Never mind.
Why do I bring to your attention the content of this short conversation with President Senghor ? Just in order to confirm that in every corner of Africa I traveled to, people still keep asking me where I come from. What is my ethnic group ? And quite recently, at Niamey airport….are you muslim or christian ?

People ask me these questions not necessarily in order to take side about my Burundian sort of ethnic identity. They just want to know whether I am Hutu or Tutsi.

Since several years, it’s true, civil wars in Burundi or in neighbouring countries have shed a cruel light on these ethnic groups. We are now known all over the world for having, since centuries, developed between these supposed antagonistic communities hatred and violence. Therefore, it’s true, for bad or good reasons, Hutu’s and Tutsi’s reputation is done. That’s a fact.

However, in very many African countries I was privileged to travel to, in Senegal, in Guinea Conakry, in Mali, in Niger, in Burkina Faso, in Ethiopia, in Kenya, in Uganda, in Guinea Bissau, in Namibia, I’ve quite often been taken for a member of one of the local ethnic group. And never, ever, I felt I was prejudiced against because I was Hutu or Tutsi. Nor have I never ever been percieved as a threat to my African fellows.

In return, I really hope, our African brothers and sisters living in Burundi or traveling to Burundi will, in a near future, feell the same kindness and hospitality I’ve been enjoying all over the African continent. Regardless my supposed Burundian ethnic identity.
Yes, President Senghor, I am just an African…. Like Amadeus….!

” In return, I really hope, our African brothers and sisters living in Burundi or traveling to Burundi will, in a near future, feel the same kindness and hospitality I’ve been enjoying all over the African continent. Regardless my supposed Burundian ethnic identity.
Yes, President Senghor, I am just an African…. Like Amadeus….”
It will get there but we need not to kid ourselves into the illusion that those ethnic distinctions are past history because if we observe this past week national and social media commentary on the “ethnic question”, you can realize just how raw and still in the mind of people, including the highest leadership rung, that question of identity is. Those of us who live outside Burundi are occasionally confronted with that stereotype: because our history remains unknown to the outside world, the laziness(individual as institutional) has made people to rely on the stereotypes of the good versus bad ethnic group, depending on who between the hutu and the tutsi tells the initial story. So, we got plenty of work to do in the reeducation of the next generation.

First of all, thank you very much for your rich reply. It is flattering :). However, I would like to clarify a couple of elements.

The very reason I have posted this “témoignage” is because I have been extremely well received in Burundi, and currently being elsewhere in East Africa, I have to admit I miss it. Again Burundi is one of my favorite countries in Africa; that being said, this article was not published out of a desire to condemn the “bias” (if I can even call it that) I’ve experienced here. It was an attempt to challenge the way we think about our identities. I was simply surprised that telling people where I was from usually raised doubt or suspicion in their minds; and by the way, there is no way I could ever be perceived as a threat to my African Fellows (you would understand why if you met me…).

In any case being a prominent journalist (yes, I have looked you up ;)) I assume you can appreciate the importance of context. Notice that His Excellency President Léopold Sedar Senghor only asked you if you were Hutu or Tutsi after you told him you were Burundian. Since he was still alive then, I assume the conflict was not entirely over yet, which could explain that specific curiosity.

Also, the ramifications of being identified as a hutu or a tutsi within Burundi, as opposed to elsewhere can be drastically different due to levels of subjectivity. I am sure you understand why.

I always enjoy playing a game where people try to guess where I am from because chances are they’ve seldom met someone from my country…

But at the end of the day Athanase, you are right! I am an African! … Just like You!

It is a sad day when an outsider pleads the general burundian public to stop such a harmful and useless trend. True, it is a part of our history, but it should stay there. It is indeed sad but very much needed. I greatly appreciate the love you have for my country. Thank you.
On a totally unrelated note, if you don’t mind me asking, what country are you from?

Thank you for your appreciation, and I agree with you “it” is very much needed; however I don’t think it is a sad day. What use is dialogue if we cannot bring constructive input to the state of affairs in each others’ nations? I think it is a great day indeed. You see, that concept of the “Other” I was talking about earlier, that is really what we need to work on.

Yes, I am not Burundian, but my west african country can very well be stuck in the same bind Burundi is in at the moment (we have our own host of issues we are dealing with, no one is perfect). We can learn from this.

Yes, I am not Burundian, but I am still a proud cosmopolitan African, learning lessons from every nation I visit so I can (hopefully) positively impact my own one day.

In other words, if we africans don’t decide to learn from each other, collaborate, and unite; we will remain the fragmented, inefficient and stagnant nations we are today, without much hope for a brighter, sustainable future.

About your question, let’s just say I am from a country that faces the same challenges as Burundi today, namely presidential terms :). I think I’ve given you enough to go off of. Why the question?

So NEN, in your opinion, what do you think is the first step to “making the past stay in the past” ?